Get your child to go to bed!

I have a premonition that we’ve been very lucky with Hayden. He rarely fights us when it’s time to go to bed for the night or for a nap. But I also attribute some of our luck to hard work in developing a bedtime routine from the time he was very small (about 3 months old). A bedtime routine is a great way to calm your child and help him or her transition from activities of the day to the quiet of the night (and hopefully sleep!). Eventually, repetition will help to condition your child (I hate saying that, but it’s true) to associate the bedtime routine with sleep.

A Toddler Bedtime Routine

Here’s what our bedtime routine looks like today:

Shallow bath in the big tub. Brush teeth. Soap and washing twice a week. (Usually, this one is mostly done by Daddy)

Dry off, put on diaper and onesie.

At this point, Hayden stands up and knows what’s next. He grins, giggles and runs across the room to where his rocking chair waits.

After he climbs into his rocking chair, Daddy reads him a story (or a few pages) while Mommy puts on his socks. (Lately he doesn’t want to stay in his chair. He sits on my lap while Ryan reads.)

Daddy says good night, turns off the light, shuts the door and turns on the fan (white noise) in the hallway.

Mommy gives Marty to Hayden (unless he got him during his story, which happens a lot), cradles him in her arms and maybe wraps him in a blanket.

Mommy sings “Baby Beluga,” usually with made up words about Hayden. After a verse or two, Mommy gives Hayden a kiss and lays him down in his crib.

By now, it’s very rare for Hayden to cry or call out once we put him down. Of course, we’ve refined this routine for our family over the last year. See also the followup with more bedtime routine tips.

An Evolving Bedtime Routine

Over time, your child’s needs change. Once I stopped nursing Hayden to sleep, his night time bedtime routine looked like this:

Nurse

Bath in warm soapy water

Towel off and rub lotion on dry areas (feet, hands, elbows, calves).

Put on diaper and pajamas. I discovered that one of the reasons why this drove him nuts before was because at this point he was starving. By moving his feeding up to the beginning of the routine, he was much more agreeable at this point!

Hold him, rocking gently and singing 2-3 songs. Put him in bed once he starts sucking his fingers.

Before this, our bedtime routine was even shorter.

Baby’s First Bedtime Routine

Our first bed time routine was very, very basic (he was three months, after all!).

Everyone and their mother will tell you not to nurse your baby to sleep, but this worked for us for a long, long time. I don’t really remember the transition being that hard, but it did take a few days.

A Naptime Routine

A naptime routine is a huge help in getting your child to take his or her naps! Our routine is very short:

Turn on the fan. Hold him, rocking gently and singing 2-3 songs (now we’re down to one). Put him in bed once he starts sucking his fingers. (He’s mostly grown out of this by now, but I’ve seen him do it a couple times lately.)

Tips for Creating Your Own Bedtime Routine

Do what works for you. Baths, books and storytelling, songs and night time rituals are good. I had a sister with a deathly fear of monsters; every night my mom sprayed her room with a “monster spray.”

Make your children comfortable. Every night for years our family prayed for “no needles in the bed, no throw up” to reassure another sister (who really did find a pin in her bed once, prompting the addition to our prayers).

If possible, put the most distressing task at the beginning of the routine.

Go slow and talk softly.

Use dim lights.

Involve your spouse in the bedtime routine. That way, if you’re ever called away (or out having fun!) at night, he’ll be able to take over with confidence and minimal disruption to the routine.

Use repetition. If your children are at the age where they want the same book(s) every night, use it to your advantage. We do things in pretty much the same order and sing the same lullaby every night.

Once I quit nursing Hayden to sleep, I put him down while he was still awake, but obviously on his way to sleeping. By now, I can put him down after one yawn or eye rub and he’ll go to sleep on his own.

Use a security object. It took months of us giving it to him every nap and night for Hayden to become attached, but now he really loves Marty, his monkey. He almost seems relieved to see him when he knows it’s time for sleep.

Our bedtime routine has helped Hayden go to bed well for almost anyone (Mom, Dad, Aunties and friends) and, I think, eventually helped him to sleep through the night. I can only hope our future children will benefit from our bed time routines, too!

Bedtime routines are also easier to establish when the child can “see” them. Kids do much better with pictures and SchKIDules makes all sorts of personalized pictures schedules for kids of all ages. Not only are the great for getting through the morning and night time routines, but the help reduce tantrums and repetitive questions.

I am the mom of 61/2 month old twins. My son will not go into his crib awake without crying so putting him in his crib when he is tired and awake is very stressful for both of us. His sister can be put down while she is awake and will usually fall asleep with her paci. I nurse the twins and my son usually falls asleep at the breast. How can I avoid the cry it out method but train my son to be a good sleeper? Currently he goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 6 hours later for another nursing session. I must admit that I often take him into bed with me just to get him to sleep. My current routine is to wait until I see signs of tired. I take the twins into the nursery, change into pjs, read one book and give a bottle(they get one bottle of formula each night). The bottle usually sends them to sleep but my son wakes up nightly as soon as his head hits the mattress. I feel that I have created this sleep issue and don’t feel right about making him cry it out. I would appreciate any help!

In Good Night, Sleep Tight, Kim West recommends moving nursing earlier in the bedtime routine—before PJs, etc. I’ve done this with all three of my kids. Your son will probably need extra comforting at bedtime at first (West has a method of gradually moving further away from the crib called the Sleep Lady Shuffle), but the transition can take only a few days.

(Says the mother whose five month old screamed for two hours a night for ten days before said mother gave up on night weaning!)